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on Technology and Industrial Dynamics |
| By: | Rammer, Christian; Es-Sadki, Nordine |
| Abstract: | Obtaining indicators on innovation activities of firms has been a challenge in economic research for a long time. The most frequently used indicators - R&D expenditure and patents - provide an incomplete picture as they represent inputs and throughputs in the innovation process. Output measurement of innovation has strongly been relying on survey data such as the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), but suffers from several short-comings typical to sample surveys, including incomplete coverage of the firm sector, low timeliness and limited comparability across industries and firms. The availability of big data sources has initiated new efforts to collect innovation data at the firm level. This paper discusses recent attempts of using digital big data sources on firms for generating firm-level innovation indicators, including Websites and social media. It summarises main challenges when using big data and proposes avenues for future research. |
| Keywords: | Big data,innovation indicators,CIS,literature review |
| JEL: | O30 C81 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:22007&r= |
| By: | Kuosmanen, Natalia; Kuosmanen, Timo; Ali-Yrkkö, Jyrki; Pajarinen, Mika |
| Abstract: | Abstract The contributions of entry and exit of firms to aggregate productivity growth are well-established in the literature. However, the impact of industry switching of firms on productivity remains overlooked. The purpose of this report is to shed new light on the role of industry switching as a form of structural change. The results show that industry switching is very common and occurs in all industries in Finland, especially during the times of recession. Industry switching has had both positive and negative contributions to aggregate productivity in different periods. Intra-industry switching had mainly negative impact on productivity growth suggesting that switching was taken as a strategy to survive. On the other hand, inter-industry switching had mainly positive impact on productivity growth, suggesting that switching was associated with new products and technologies. The study also looked at the structural developments of industries relevant for combating climate change. As emission reduction targets require companies to renew their product and service offerings, climate policy can help guide companies to switch industries. However, in the industries examined in the study, restructuring has so far taken place mainly through entry and exit. |
| Keywords: | Industrial structure, Industry switching, Labor productivity, Productivity decompositions |
| JEL: | C81 D22 L16 |
| Date: | 2022–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:report:126&r= |
| By: | Louis Knuepling (Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography, Leibniz University Hannover); Colin Wessendorf (Centre for Regional and Innovation Economics, University of Bremen); Stefano Basilico (Chair of Microeconomics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena & Faculty of Economics and Business Studies, University of Bremen) |
| Abstract: | Innovation studies use labels such as radical or disruptive to qualify innovation according to different concepts. Within the literature, these labels are frequently used interchangeably due to overlaps in their characteristics. These various definitions present challenges when the labels are operationalized in empirical studies. Based on a quantitative analysis of the most common innovation labels' definitions in 532 scientific papers, we find that novelty and impact, predominantly used for empirical operationalization, differentiate only between ordinary and more exceptional innovations. Based on our findings, a differentiation between the impact’s target and the consideration of positive versus negative effects enables better distinction between labels for more 'exceptional' innovations. We extend the existing literature and enable a more precise definition of (single) innovations by providing a novel, more nuanced description of innovations' different characteristics and a further distinction of their effects. Thereby, the relevant decisive aspects will be communicated more accurately. |
| Keywords: | radical, incremental, disruptive, breakthrough, innovation typology |
| JEL: | O31 O32 O33 |
| Date: | 2022–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2022-002&r= |
| By: | Loren Brandt; Ruochen Dai; Gueorgui Kambourov; Kjetil Storesletten; Xiaobo Zhang |
| Abstract: | This paper studies entrepreneurship and the creation of new firms in China through the lens of serial entrepreneurs, i.e. entrepreneurs who establish more than one firm, and their differences with non-serial entrepreneurs. Drawing on data on the universe of all firms in China, we document key facts about serial entrepreneurship in China since the early 1990s and develop a theoretical framework to rationalize the role of endowments, ability, and capital market frictions in their behavior. We also examine the key determinants of the sectoral choice for serial entrepreneurs' second firms. Quantitatively, serial entrepreneurs are more productive, raise more capital, and operate larger firms than non-serial entrepreneurs. Moreover, serial entrepreneurs with greater liquidity and whose firms have relatively similar productivity are more likely to operate these firms concurrently rather than sequentially. We also find that less productive serial entrepreneurs are more likely to switch sectors when establishing new firms, with the choice of sector influenced by considerations of risk diversification, upstream and downstream linkages, and sectoral complementarities. |
| Keywords: | Serial Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Capital Distortions; Sector Choice |
| JEL: | D22 D24 E22 E44 L25 L26 O11 O14 O16 O40 O53 P25 R12 D21 |
| Date: | 2022–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-721&r= |
| By: | Davide Antonioli (University of Ferrara); Claudia Ghisetti (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca); Stefano Pareglio (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Marco Quatrosi (University of Ferrara) |
| Abstract: | This paper builds on the available knowledge on what drives firms’ production choices towards circular economy practices to shed new light on a so far quite neglected dimension: the role of organizational settings. Being the transition to a more circular economy systemic in nature, itdraws not only on technological but also on organizational changes and new set-ups. Coherently, the paper investigates how certain organizational settings (such as practices of communication to employees on critical aspects of the life of the company, the implementation of new performance evaluation mechanisms and incentive-based payment methods and the implementation of changes in recruitment and training of (new) employees affect the adoption of circular economy innovation. The work is empirical, and it draws on a newly collected dataset representative for Italian manufacturing firms in 2017-2018. Results show new light on the role of such organizational set-ups, which are found to be making the transition towards a circular economy more effective. |
| Keywords: | Circular Economy, Sustainable Production, Environmental Innovation, Organisational Change |
| JEL: | O30 O44 O55 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2022.07&r= |
| By: | Antonioli, Davide; Ghisetti, Claudia; Mazzanti, Massimiliano; Nicolli, Francesco |
| Abstract: | Assessing the economic consequences of sustainable production choices aimed at reducing environmental negative externalities is crucial for policy making, in light of the increasing interest and awareness experienced in the recent EU policy packages (Circular Economy package; European Green Deal and Recovery Fund to support sustainable transition). This assessment is one of the goal of the current work, which tries to provide new empirical evidence on the economic returns of such choices, drawing on previous literature on the underlying determinants of greener production choices, which are stated to differ from standard technological innovations as they are subject to a knowledge and an environmental externality. Using an original dataset on about 3000 Italian manufacturing firms we provide evidence on the relations among innovations related to the Circular Economy concept and economic outcome in the short run. The evidence shows that in the short run it is difficult to obtain economic gains, especially for the SMEs. |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2022–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:feemwp:319761&r= |
| By: | Grillitsch, Markus (CIRCLE, Lund University); Sotarauta, Markku (Tampere University); Asheim, Björn (CIRCLE, Lund University); Fitjar, Rune Dahl (University of Stavanger); Haus-Reve, Silje (University of Stavanger); Kolehmainen, Jari (Tampere University); Kurikka, Heli (Tampere University); Lundquist, Karl-Johan (CIRCLE, Lund University); Martynovich, Mikhail (Lund University); Monteilhet, Skirmante (University of Stavanger); Nielsen, Hjalti (Lund University); Nilsson, Magnus (CIRCLE, Lund University); Rekers, Josefine (Lund University); Sopanen, Sami (Tampere University); Stihl, Linda (CIRCLE, Lund University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of human agency in 40 phases of regional economic development in 12 Nordic regions over 30 years. The paper contributes with a theoretical framework to study agency over time and a fuzzyset qualitative comparative analysis based on a unique dataset combining over 200 interviews, with printed and online sources, and quantitative data. The paper identifies which combinations of agency types and context conditions make industrial upgrading or diversification possible, and investigates how such combinations come into being. The causal claims from this analysis are illustrated with empirical examples and discussed in relation to previous literature. |
| Keywords: | regional development; industrial diversification; innovation; entrepreneurship; place-based leadership; institutions |
| JEL: | O10 O30 R11 |
| Date: | 2022–04–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2022_005&r= |
| By: | Sergio Ocampo (University of Western Ontario) |
| Abstract: | I develop an assignment model of occupations with multidimensional heterogeneity in production tasks and worker skills. Tasks are distributed continuously in the skill space, whereas workers have a discrete distribution with a finite number of types. Occupations arise endogenously as bundles of tasks optimally assigned to a type of worker. The model allows us to study how occupations respond to changes in the economic environment, making it useful for analyzing the implications of automation, skill-biased technical change, offshoring, and worker training. Using the model, I characterize how wages, the marginal product of workers, the substitutability between worker types, and the labor share depend on the assignment of tasks to workers. I introduce automation as the choice of the optimal size and location of a mass of identical robots in the task space. Automation displaces workers by replacing them in the performance of tasks, generating a cascading effect on other workers as the boundaries of occupations are redrawn. |
| Keywords: | occupations, tasks, automation, assignment, skill mismatch |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwo:hcuwoc:20222&r= |
| By: | Krenz, Astrid; Strulik, Holger |
| Abstract: | We develop a macroeconomic theory of the division of household tasks between servants and own work and how it is affected by automation in households and firms. We calibrate the model for the U.S. and apply it to explain the historical development of household time use and the distribution of household tasks from 1900 to 2020. The economy is populated by high-skilled and low-skilled households and household tasks are performed by own work, machines, or servants. For the period 1900-1960, innovations in household automation motivate the decline of the servant economy and the creation of new household tasks motivates an almost constant division of household time between wage work and domestic work. For the period 1960-2020, innovations in firm automation and the implied increase of the skill premium explain the return of the servant economy. We show the robustness of results to the introduction of time trends in skilled-labor supply and the consideration of endogenous demand for leisure. With counterfactual experiments we address the effects of task-dependent disutility of work and of innovations in servant efficiency (the Gig economy). We provide supporting evidence for inequality as a driver of the return of the servant economy in a regional panel of U.S. metropolitan statistical areas for the period 2005-2020. |
| Keywords: | Automation,Robots,Home production,Inequality,Servants,Maids,Gig economy |
| JEL: | D13 E24 J22 J24 O11 O30 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cegedp:431&r= |
| By: | Joachim Wagner (Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses firm level data from the World Bank Enterprise surveys conducted in 2019 and from the COVID-19 follow-up surveys conducted in 2020 in ten European countries to investigate the link between the gender of the firm’s owner and firm survival until 2020.The estimated effect of female ownership is positive ceteris paribus after controlling for various firm characteristics that are known to be related to survival. Furthermore, the size of this estimated effect can be considered to be large on average. Having a female owner helped firms to survive. |
| Keywords: | Gender, female owned firms, firm survival, COVID-19, World Bank Enterprise Surveys |
| JEL: | D22 L20 L25 L29 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lue:wpaper:409&r= |